Twilight actor reflects on filming of series

After the premiere of the new movie from The Twilight Saga, vampires have dominated many conversations of young locals.

Jackson Rathbone, who plays Jasper Hale in the “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn — Part 2,” was at the Four Seasons Hotel and Resort on Friday to discuss why the saga was such a phenomenon to begin with.

“I think what Stephenie Meyer was able to create was putting out that there is the duality that we experience in life, which is love and fear,” Rathbone said. “You have this character that falls in love with someone she should fear. I think that when love conquers fear, it is something that is so innate in our human sensibilities that we are immediately attracted to it.”

“There are a lot of love stories out there, but there is not that sense of having to conquer fear. To have the sensibility and connectivity that you can fall in love and be love for eternity is something I firmly believe in and that people look for in life. So to me, that’s what draws people to it.”

Rathbone could not reveal much about the highly anticipated battle scene, but he believes it is going to leave fans speechless.

“I love action sequences. It’s really fun getting to utilize that vampire strength and speed because we didn’t get to do it a lot,” he said. “In a lot of the ‘Twilight’ films, we didn’t get a chance to really dive into what makes a vampire movie so great. So it was amazing to get a chance to dive in there.”

The battle sequence took about six weeks to film, some of which did not make the final cut.

When it comes to Rathbone’s relationship with the rest of the cast, he said that they have all grown closer over the course of the films.

According to Rathbone, there is always a lot music involved when the cast gets together.

“I remember back on the first “Twilight” we would all jam together and Nikki Reed and I would write together. She wanted to learn how to write music and play songs. Rob and I actually played open mic night close to the hotel. When we get together there’s a lot of music,” he said.

Rathbone’s last day on set was not full of tearful goodbyes, but rather an emotional farewell to his character.

“For me, I had a nice moment taking off the white makeup and the contacts and putting Jasper’s boots away. I really took the time to say goodbye to the character because he’d been such apart of my life for a long time.”